Winter, Extended

Nothing, just the snow

and a few warblers

released into the quiet.

So easy it must be to be

a sea of white—the firs,

the wreath of apartments.

So peaceful. As daylight seeds

the room, I remember

I want to die. I’ve said it before,

styled the syntax in my throat.

I’m always sure of the warbler

that finds theory in snow,

and I wouldn’t mind that scholarship.

When he gifted me a lick of lilies

in the ice cream shop on our one-year anniversary,

I had not known then how bad

I wanted his lips to be my grave. How dramatic

our love has become. Arguments

I start in our favorite bar, arguments

in front of the storage unit—

I would be lying if I said he’s not to be cherished.

Once I realized he left

this world for the realm of absurdity,

I was so caught in the mind’s teeth.

It’s snowing again,

and his alarm slashes the room.

I’m watching the warbler slip into an essay

—On the Psychoanalysis of My Death

or

—Contributions to a Blue Suicide

or

—Sparing the Mind: The Body’s Attempt at Transcendence